Match-winning Melbourne prop Jesse Bromwich says the experience of their early finals exit last NRL season has put the Storm in a good position as they chase their first title since 2012.
The Storm crashed out last year in the preliminary finals, shock 20-points losers to North Queensland at AAMI Park.
They got some revenge with a qualifying final win over the Cowboys last Saturday night but Bromwich said last year's final four defeat proved to them that a grand final berth is far from guaranteed.
In the prelim they will host either Canberra or Penrith, who play off in a sudden-death final this Saturday.
"That definitely hurt us and right now we can probably look at it as a positive," Bromwich said.
"We can look at it now and tweak things."
Bromwich said they had already taken on board how the Cowboys started their preliminary final last season, and given them a dose of their own medicine with a high-energy start in last Saturday's win.
While the Storm have played two of their best matches of the season; in their final round win over Cronulla to secure the minor premiership and then in the win against North Queensland Bromwich said they were delighted to be able to take next weekend off.
"We're definitely looking forward to week off and we deserve it.
"We're still going to be working hard at training there just won't be as many bruises."
Bromwich reaffirmed his status as the game's best prop against the Cowboys, scoring the match-winning try North Queensland and topped the front-row stats.
The Kiwi Test captain ran 164 metres - more than the combined tally of Cowboys duo Matt Scott and James Tamou, who managed just 144 between them.
Typical of Bromwich, he was eager to pat his teammates on the back for their efforts.
"Our goal line defence was outstanding and that's what wins big games and that's something we've got to keep," he said.
"We can't be happy with that; we've got to keep working as it's going to be even more important in our next games."
